A war veteran who thought his comrade had been killed in battle during the Second World War was left stunned after bumping into his old friend at a military show last month.

Stan Hodge, 87, believed Bert Hadrill to have died in 1944 after being badly injured by a mortar round as they served along side each other in Normandy..

Mr Hadrill sustained severe abdominal injuries in a battle to take the village of Maltot, where 250 Allied soldiers lost their lives. Mr Hodge, of Ashford, Kent, England was unaware that his friend had been rescued by paramedics, posted to Scotland to recuperate for the rest of the war and was now living in Bristol.

So it was a huge surprise for him to realize that the man wearing their regimental uniform at the War and Peace military vehicles show in Paddock Wood, Kent, was Bert himself. He said: ‘I…